Author Archives: Cora Howard

Online First Week of School Lifesavers

I made it through my first ever online first week of school! It went much better than I expected it would. Not everything went exactly as planned, but I feel like I got to know my students and got to set up some routines. There were a few life savers that I don’t think IContinue reading “Online First Week of School Lifesavers”

Starting the Year Online

During the last two school years, the COVID-19 waves hit in the spring. Online teaching in the spring had its own challenges, but the transition was easier because I already knew my students and had already taught most of the year’s content. This year, the prospect of starting the school year online has new challenges.Continue reading “Starting the Year Online”

Spelling Inventory – Back to School Baseline Assessments

Lower elementary students won’t always spell words the right way. “Invented spelling” is a powerful tool to enable students to write words even when they can’t spell them yet. Still, spelling reveals what students know about phonics patterns. Students who spell the long e sound with just the letter e, a silent e at theContinue reading “Spelling Inventory – Back to School Baseline Assessments”

Diagnostic Decoding Surveys – Back to School Baseline Assessments

The first week of school is when you finally get to know the people who days before were just names on your class list. You get to match names to faces, and you get to learn about each student’s personality. The first week of school can also be a great time to do baseline readingContinue reading “Diagnostic Decoding Surveys – Back to School Baseline Assessments”

Assessment: Concept Style

In the Comprehension Model, students take traditional tests to show their comprehension of the textbook and vocabulary words. In the Concept Model, students often cannot show their knowledge using a traditional test. With my class last year, I realized that many of the standards did not lend themselves to traditional tests because they required studentsContinue reading “Assessment: Concept Style”

Learning: Concept Style

I mentioned in the last post that most Concept Model units begin with an anchor phenomenon. In the Comprehension Model Learning post, I gave tips to put some best practices into a traditional science class. For this post, I would like to walk you through one of the units I taught last year about friction.Continue reading “Learning: Concept Style”

The Concept Model

The Comprehension Model begins with the answer. When students open to a chapter in their textbook titled “Friction,” they know that Friction is likely the answer to any questions posed on the page. They will read to understand friction. In contrast, the Concept Model begins with a question. The Next Generation Science Standards use anContinue reading “The Concept Model”

Assessment: Comprehension Style

In last week’s post, I gave ways to help students learn within a Comprehension Model science classroom. This week, I will give tips for how to assess students’ knowledge of science without penalizing them for a lack of reading comprehension. In a few weeks, I will post about alternative assessments in a science class. ThisContinue reading “Assessment: Comprehension Style”

Learning: Comprehension Style

In the Comprehension Model of teaching science, students learn science by reading the textbook and learning the vocabulary words. If students can be successful in those two areas, they will do well in their science class. Reading a science textbook is not as intuitive as it seems. Informational texts have special features to help themContinue reading “Learning: Comprehension Style”